About Me

I'm just me - a solitary wanderer who trekked across much of the world and recently retired to a small farm in the Ozarks.
My checkered past includes time spent as an Army officer, high school teacher and principal, real estate broker, child protection worker and administrator, and social worker with the U.S. military.
Over the years I have resided in a variety of places including Missouri, Virginia, Okinawa, Kansas, Kentucky, and Arizona. I have also traveled to Germany, Mexico, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Great Britain, Belize, Guatemala, Taiwan, Guam, South Korea, Vietnam, and numerous islands in the Caribbean - including Cuba.
I have ridden in a Russian ambulance, hitch-hiked across Moscow late at night, fought an ostrich, celebrated New Year's at a street party in Hanoi, and bicycled across the Caribbean. My travels have taken me to Ground Zero in Hiroshima, the Bolshoi Ballet, China Beach, and the White House kitchen.
The nine things in life that I am most proud of are my children: Nick, Molly, and Tim, and my grandchildren: Boone, Sebastian, Judah, Olive, Willow, and Sullivan.
Life has been very good to me indeed!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Notes from a Green Place

by Pa RockOzarks Homeboy
I arrived in Kansas City a couple of hours ago and feel as though I have stepped into Nirvana. It is so beautiful here out in the quiet burbs surrounding the city, and everything is green - the big shady trees, the grass, the attitudes, everything. And the houses are a variety of colors. It is all so much different and so much more appealing than dry, brown Arizona. And the temperature, while still plenty warm, is a significant twenty-five degrees below today's high in Phoenix.

Olive and I have been playing. She is such a sweet and active little girl. Tim and Erin have recently moved to Roeland Park, Kansas, and have a nice home that provides Olive with a big back yard in which to romp and stomp. The family kitty, Mr. Furley, has also fallen in love with the sylvan setting and has transformed himself into an outdoor cat after living all of his previous years in apartments.

It will be very hard to go back to parched Arizona after experiencing all of this wonderful greenery!